Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

. I Local hotline cont'd. ~ even man aged to ma ke the ride 10 0 k smooth! Ed car ried o ne miss over t he top (t wo are allo we d) an d it looked like he had this climb in his b ack pocket. t There: were o nly nin e other riders w ho .. Luke Messer is back and is coming on strong. (Continued fro m page 21) laps of all m otos. Yodogawa took th ird overall wi th a second pl ace fin ish in Valley Cycle Park m ot o two. By John Grout MOORPARK, CAL. , J UNE 8 T oday 's m otocro ss program at Valley Cycle Park m an aged to produce a batch o f tigh t warfare. Some of the closest competitio n was supplied by large fields of both 250 and Op en Novices as th ey wen t wheel-to-wheel in some real tan k slappers , par ticularly through a ne w stretch on the backchute where a gigantic w ater hole had been ad ded to the terrain. Those turning in the big victories in these classe s were J im Webb an d Bret Wilkinson, both of wh om were straddling Yarnahas. Webb, who captured th e overall against a 33-rider 250 crew, did so with a steady two-two-two tally. While Wilkinson , who was racing in the big-bore divis io n moun ted on a scooter from Simi Valley Yamaha, scored a grand slammer in the Open class. Though pursued rather closely in the initial laps of all three heats by riders such as Bob Wahlstrom (Bul ), Peter Gallant (Mai), Michael Robinson (Bul) and Dave Kribell, who was mounted on a four stro ker valve-engined Honda, winner Wilkinson was able to draw the big Yamaha out for easy wins . Though losing the first moto to Jere Mason (Mai) , the second heat to Ron Hornaday (Ho n) and the third ro un d to Tony Mason (Mai), Webb 's three straight second place fin ishe s were enough to scoop up the largest trophy at 250cc. Dan Tisdale, who was sliding a Honda around the new course during the . day-long show, came out on top of the 125 Juniors, leaving up-t rack in the blo wby from his stinger, Albert Encinas. Results in Results Section. • ... ... Tyer never tired By Mike Kl inger GARDENA, CALIF. , J UNE II The night stal kers of CI\lC motocross were out thrashing Wednesday at Ascot Park an d the FMF rider Mark Ty er (Yam) was 38 th e big winner. Tyer, J im Domann (Ho n) an d J ason Yodogaw a (Ho n) were th e lon e pac k le aders all th ree mor os of 'the 125 Pros. Tyer ran away with th ree first pl ace finish es but n o t u ntil Domann challenged Tyer in th e op en ing Val T ami e tti (Mai) wo n for the second time thi s year in th e 250 Pro class af ter swapping posi tion s with J eff Jennings (Bul) in motos two an d three . Will Harp er (Mai) blew off the ot her riders in m o to one action, bu t inju re d his arm in the start of m o to tw o an d d roppe d o u t of competition. T amie t ti had fini she d seco nd to Harp er wh ich gave hi m the overall for the nigh L The 500 Pro class was delayed sligh tly wh ile the officials looked for Joe J ohnston 's (Mai) finge rs. Joh nston was lea ding moto one wh en he reached do wn to adj us t hi s chai n guide. The result : four tip s of his fin ger s gro un d off by the cou n ter sh aft sprocke t an d chain. Meanwh ile, Bill Ru bly (Mai) and Dan Barn es (CZ) walked away with the 500 Pro class, with Rubly en di ng up on to p tw ice for the overall. Luke Messer (Mai) m ade his raci ng debut at Ascot and copped a third in the stan ding s. • Results in Results Section . Matterhorn hillclimb By Ann A . Powell ORANGE, CAL.,JUNE I It was an all new Matterhorn that faced the riders today. Vic Wilson, owner of Saddleback Cycle Park , had had the hill revamped. "It '5 too easy, complained one rider at the sign up table. " It looks like a freeway, " agreed his co mpanio n. No ne of the small stock bikes were able to make it over the top from the first starting point. Gary Peterson and Wes Evans, both on modified 250cc bikes, and Craig Mock on a modified 360, did manage from that point. The b igger bikes found the going plenty rough, but quite a few managed to make the top. Having a fairly large number of bikes make it over the top from the first starting point isn't unusual. After the starting log is moved up, that is when the riders start dropping from co mpe tit ion . Wes Evans was the only 250 to make it over, all the other ove rs were scored by 400cc b ikes. By the ti me the second round of compe t ition had be en co mp lete d the field had narrowed down to under 30 bikes. The starting log was again m oved . th is time up to th e 340 foot level. At this level , th e bikes we re sta rt ing out at suc h an incline that many co u ld not pull away from th e log. At last Ed Shaver on a monster 1000cc Harley slipped over th e top. He It had a chance o f beating Ed , an d all of the m had alre ady missed from this point in th eir first ru n s. Finally John Bjorkman, ridi ng a 750cc Triump h an d burnin g pump gas (most o f the others still in co mpe tit ion were b urning fu el) m an aged to wo rk his way over the crest. Two more riders made th e a tt empt, but failed. The conte st now was between the fuel burning 10 00cc Harley and the 750cc Triumph. Shaver was the first man to be called back to th e line . Just as he reached the starting log (q uite a feat in itself) something sn apped. The big Harley was out of compe titi o n! While Shaver headed back to th e pits to see wh at could be done , Bjorkman made his run. The st arter was standing knee deep in loose dirt wh en Big John and the bike p ulle d aw ay . It loo ked like Big John migh t be able to repeat his previous run, but o nly go t up to t he 508 foo t m ar k. Shaver's bi ke was co mp le tely out of commission , so he borrowed the screaming 836cc Honda of Ron Standeven an d ca me back for hi s seco nd run. That Honda was kno wn to have amazing po wer, it had tak en the top spot a t the Widow ma ker j ust last month. The start was bad. Shaver hel d on whil e the Hon da went its way , pulling to the left o f the hill. Working the throttle fo r all he was worth, Sh aver fou ght for co n tro l. He final ly go t back to th e cen te r of the trail, b u t th e ra ce was lost. The Hon da ca me to a halt at th e 493 foo t mar k , an d the win went to Big John. Hillclimbin g fo r the seas o n is drawing to a close at Saddleback, wi th the last • cl imb taking pl ace on June 29 . Results in Results Sect ion . AME MX-the difference of daylight and dark From our correspondent in the field VALENCIA. CAL. , JUNE 8 When Maico-rnounted Will Harper is " on," it seems that victory o n the In dian Dunes motocross tra cks is virt ually assu red fo r him. Harper won both 25 0-5 00 Expert co mbined motos in AME daytime motocross action today. He had done the same thing the previous Friday night under the ligh ts. Actually , Mike Sixbery on a borro wed 4 00 Mon o sho ck led most of the fir st Ex pe rt moto today with Harper co mi ng up to pass him for the poin t only o n the last lap . In th e second 30-minu te rn oto , Harper forged past all co mpet ito rs includin g eventual 500 Expert winner Ron Haase , riding a Maico for Cole Bros., by the halfway point of the race. He then co n t inued to stretch out a lead with his error-free co rnerin g all th e wa y to the checkered flag. Joe Root, riding a Dirt Bike West OSSA for Analube, was Will's m ain co mpe titio n in the 250 class . Root was also riding an In ternational Yamaha monoshock in the 125 Expert class but experienced DN F difficulties in at least one moto of each class to keep him out of t he top overall listings. Root did, however, set unofficial fast lap time for the da y . In the 125 Expert clas s, a large one by local mo to cro ss standards , Tom Ry an sent his CR Hon da to th e fro nt in bo th mo tos an d never bac ked off the throttle as he led across th e finish line for perfect one-one finishes toward th e overall win . Second overall was Mike Pillar, on a CH Honda, who was consistent but seemed slightly off his Friday night winning pace. Mike grabbed the holeshot both times in the 125 Expert go but started fading at ab o ut the distance of the shorter night sp rin t races ba ck to three-four finishes. Joe Root had actually p assed Ryan in th e second moto and led for a fraction of a lap . Ryan retook the ' lead by the fin ish line as Root was later seen pushing the Yamaha disconsolately down th e co urse. the most imp ressive Perhaps domination o f th e Junior classes was demonstrated by Rozz Reed who led th e combined 250 -500 Junior class with gian t lea ds in each mota. The machinery was a new 400 GP Maico, ridden for Mason's Motorcycles. Nobody was near him after the firs t lap and he spent most of his 40 minutes on the course lapping traffic. Chris Sm ith, on an Omo 's Husqvarna, was the first 250 rider both times out in th is combined class. Chris had previously won the 250 Junior class under the lights on Friday night. The only other consisten t finishes were put together in the Intermediate, Minibike, and Po wd er Puff divisions. Craig Osborn (Bul) sta rted slow each mo to then forged to the front, passing Honda-mounted Willy Simons to win the 125 -250 Combined Intermediate class. Simons wa s first 125 rider in the moto, with an impressive: second overall in his first ride. Rhe Glielmi put her CRI25 ahe ad of all the other Honda-mounted ladies to win that class with apparen t ease . S.J. Whiting effectively terminated the normal four-stroke dominance of He w-t o demonstration - If y ou h ave t o get off the bike be fore it reaches the top, it helps if you know ho w to do it with gra ce and style. Lessons are offered by Ron Thompson, a top climber and win ner in severa l classe s.

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